Thunderclouds gathered overhead, swallowing the blue sky in layers. The weather turned on a dime, as if the island itself had decided to hold its breath.
On another grove island, Douglas Bullet was in the middle of a meal when his eyes narrowed.
That pressure… Conqueror's Haki.
Someone strong was fighting on Grove 60.
Bullet did not hesitate. He stood, took one last bite, and sprinted out without paying, eating as he ran like a proper pirate who had finally remembered what he was supposed to be.
…
Grove 60.
"Nice! Marco, I want your thundercloud too!" the third prince, Satan, shouted with bright eyes. "Big brother, lend me Father's Seven Star Demon Sword!"
Satan had the Weather Fruit, and he could already feel it, if he had Marco's Cloud Cloud power supporting the sky, and if he had Quetzalcoatl to amplify the storm, he could push his ability to the limit.
Hades gritted his teeth. He had just slashed at Sakazuki several times in a row, carving shallow gaps into the rear admiral's Armament coated blade. There was no time to argue.
Reluctantly, he threw the Seven Star Demon Sword.
Catching it felt like holding a piece of the sea itself, heavy with Brook's will.
Satan nearly trembled with excitement. He held the quasi divine artifact with reverence and spoke to it like a companion.
"Transform. Quetzalcoatl. Summon the storm!"
The Seven Star Demon Sword did not reject the child of its master.
In the next instant, it unfolded into a giant serpent god, hundreds of meters long. Dark wings snapped open, and the sky thickened into a choking ceiling of cloud.
A storm arrived in a heartbeat.
Satan rode the weather like a king, hurling wind and lightning as he tore through Marine bases and World Government departments across Groves 60 to 69. Buildings cracked, bubbles burst, and the archipelago's artificial calm shattered into screaming chaos.
The moment Quetzalcoatl appeared, panic rippled through Sabaody.
That sword…
Was that man back?
Why was Brook's weapon here?
The name of the Seven Star Demon Sword had long since become a nightmare woven into the world's rumors. Its appearance meant only two possibilities.
Either Brook had returned, or his offspring had stepped onto the stage.
Den Den Mushi calls flooded Marineford, one after another, demanding admirals be dispatched to arrest these lawless Hell Pirates.
Sakazuki's face darkened as he finally confirmed what he was looking at.
So these were Brook's people.
His shock lasted less than a second. Then the hatred followed.
He wanted to kill them all.
But he had overestimated himself.
He was not a Logia user yet. No Magma Fruit. No overwhelming element to drown the battlefield.
He was still a physical fighter and a swordsman.
Against two awakened Mythical Zoans, Hades and Osiris, he was lucky if he could even hold his ground.
…
"Revenge for Father!" the second princess, Hera, cried.
Blue flame erupted around her as she transformed into a phoenix wreathed in azure fire, sweeping through Marine officers like a living curse.
Nearby, the fourth prince, Anubis, slammed into the battlefield, his body twisting into a gigantic three headed hellhound. He rampaged through the ranks, jaws tearing, claws crushing, leaving nothing but panic behind him.
Then the fifth prince, Mephisto, roared.
The ground trembled.
Soil surged upward as if the island had become liquid, condensing into a towering earthen giant. The Earth Fruit, a top tier Logia, had been developed to a terrifying level in his hands, almost like he could assimilate with the land itself.
From the distance, Barret's eyes widened as he ran.
An earth giant.
It made him think of his own fusion of mass and strength, and a thrill shot up his spine.
Which was stronger?
His pace quickened again, excitement burning hotter.
What a battlefield.
…
"Ugh, Kanna's ice is getting scarier every year," Kuzan muttered, almost offended.
He froze the attacking Marines with ease, but looking at that Mythical Frost Dragon, he could not help comparing.
His Ice Fruit was powerful, but Kanna had that overwhelming physique, those wings, that monstrous body.
If she kept growing like this, he would be the one who looked like a cheap imitation.
Kuzan sighed as he froze another wave of attackers.
"I'm starting to feel like the weaker ice user here."
Swordsmen Vista and Koshiro stormed the base from another angle, cutting down defenders and opening paths through the chaos.
But Abel, the Flame Disaster, stayed calm. He moved with Ben Beckman, slipping into the Marine data room like shadows, searching for any trace of the Supreme Prison's route.
High above, the sniper Jesus Burgess fired again and again, bullets carving through Marine officers with ruthless precision.
Jinbe remained beside the third princess, Shana, standing like a wall. His posture was obedient, but his eyes were sharp, ready to crush anyone who got too close.
"Jinbe, come on!" Shana snapped. "I don't need protection. I've got Father protecting me!"
She pulled out a leaf.
Her eyes softened as she thought of Brook.
Then she wrote his name.
The leaf glowed, twisted, and reshaped.
In the next moment, the leaf became Brook's figure.
Shana jumped onto his back without hesitation, clinging to him as if she could force reality to be true through sheer will.
Her Mythical Raccoon Fruit was a terrifying ability. As long as she knew the target's name and appearance, special leaves could transform into them.
And those leaves could carry a portion of the target's strength and memory, depending on how far Shana had developed her power.
"Yohohoho!"
That familiar laugh rang out across the battlefield.
The entire grove froze.
Every Marine, every pirate, every civilian who could still see or hear, went stiff.
Had he returned?
The second generation of Hell, who understood the truth, still could not help staring. Even if it was a fake, it was Father. It was Master.
Sakazuki's face tightened.
He saw fear spread through the Marines like rot, and he roared, voice ripping across the chaos.
"Don't panic! Brook has already been eliminated by the World Government! That thing is fake! A Mimic Fruit, or some other Devil Fruit trick!"
"Shut up!" Hades and Osiris bellowed together.
Sakazuki's words detonated something inside them.
They exploded into furious beast forms.
Hades became a goat horned demon blazing with hellfire, speed and strength surging to an extreme that made the air scream. Every blow hammered Sakazuki back step by step.
Osiris expanded into a red dragon hundreds of meters long, his tail whipping through the battlefield with a sound like thunder.
A single strike launched Sakazuki into the air.
He vomited blood, spinning over rubble, and in his heart the question screamed.
So this is what Brook's offspring are like?
Each of them had combat power close to his.
Each of them had top tier abilities.
And they had awakened all three types of Haki.
Why?
Why did he lose his parents young, claw his way up from the bottom, and bleed for every inch of strength, while these pirates were born with monstrous bloodlines, awakened Conqueror's Haki early, and held the most advanced Devil Fruits like trophies?
Sakazuki crashed into ruins, eyes burning.
Then he forced himself back up, rage boiling through him like molten iron.
If he obtained a top tier Devil Fruit someday, would he be weaker than them?
No.
He refused.
His Armament Haki erupted, thickening until his entire body looked like forged black steel, reflecting light like metal.
"Pirates," he growled, killing intent flashing in his eyes, "all of you must die."
He launched forward again, moving so fast the ground cracked under his feet.
For a brief moment, his fury let him withstand the combined assault of Hades and Osiris, blocking their strikes with brute will.
But he was still only one man.
And they were two awakened Mythical beasts.
…
"Gurararara!"
"Jihahaha!"
Laughter rolled through the battlefield again, and around Shana, new figures appeared as if summoned straight out of the New World's legends.
Shiki.
Newgate.
Redfield.
Linlin.
The sight alone drained the blood from the Marines' faces.
They stood frozen, minds unable to process what they were seeing.
And as Douglas Bullet finally arrived at the edge of the battlefield, he stared at those world famous monsters with shaking excitement.
He had come seeking the strongest.
And the sea had answered him immediately.
------------
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
Fleet Admiral Kong's office nearly drowned in Den Den Mushi ringing.
Calls exploded in from every direction, Sabaody officials, undercover eyes on the archipelago, the local Marine branch, even rich bosses whose only talents were spending money and panicking loudly.
"What?"
Kong's mechanical brow twitched as he listened.
"The entire Hell Pirates are in Sabaody? The Four Emperors are all there? You even saw the New World Overlord, Brook?"
For a full second, Kong simply stared at the receiver, as if the Den Den Mushi had grown legs and slapped him.
How could he not know about something like this?
Were the New World spies asleep? Dead? Or worse, filing reports with the wrong address?
Shiki, Newgate, the others, all in Sabaody?
And Brook, missing for eight years, suddenly appearing?
It would have been one lunatic report if only one person said it. But when call after call repeated the same story, Kong's expression hardened.
He slammed the emergency assembly bell.
The alarm echoed through Marineford like a hammer striking steel.
…
Far away in the New World, Antonio burst out of his command room, face pale.
His own intelligence network had delivered the nightmare headline: the princes and princesses had appeared in Sabaody, and they were already fighting the Marines.
The moment he heard it, he understood.
Those little ancestors had slipped out without permission.
And now the place they had chosen to cause trouble was the island closest to Marineford.
Thousands of kilometers.
Even at full speed, could reinforcements make it in time?
Antonio could only pray they still had enough sense to know when to advance and when to retreat, and to run before the Navy's real monsters arrived.
…
When Charlotte Linlin received the news, she snapped.
Those brats had gone back to the Grand Line without telling her or Redfield.
If anything happened, how could she face Brook when he returned?
"Assemble! Assemble!" Linlin roared. "All forces, move out! Call Shiki over too!"
She spun and barked at Vegapunk to pull out the second and third Pluton replicas. If the World Government dared lay a finger on her children, she would tear the world apart and argue about the consequences later.
Redfield and Newgate rushed back at once. Kaido came charging in with eyes that were far too excited for a rescue mission, and Kozuki Oden followed with murderous calm.
"Move," Kaido said, grinning. "We rescue them, and I get a fight."
In recent years, his strength had climbed to its peak. He wanted a clean, head on clash with a Marine admiral, and he wanted the world to remember it. Like the Four Hell Kings, he wanted that emperor title carved into history.
"Go," Linlin ordered. "I'll leave first. Tell Shiki to hurry!"
Three Pluton replica warships and the golden ship launched from Ballon Island, cutting toward the Grand Line at full speed.
These ships were strengthened by the Float Float Fruit. They carried lightning drive systems and wind shell systems. With Kaido's Flame Clouds pushing them and the Kirin Lion's Wind Control Fruit forcing the air itself to obey, their speed surged to a frightening limit.
Even Neptune of Fishman Island received Linlin's order and immediately mobilized Fishman troops, diving out to sea to assist, cover, and prepare an escape route for the second generation of Hell.
…
Marineford responded in kind.
The Navy Headquarters deployed almost everything.
Admirals Sengoku and Zephyr.
Vice Admiral Garp.
Chief of Staff Tsuru.
Because of the butterfly effect, Zephyr's wife and children had not been killed by pirates. He had never resigned. He remained an admiral, and still served as the Navy's chief instructor, forging recruits into weapons for justice.
Kong demanded updates from the top secret New World spies.
The reports came back fast, some agents had seen the Four Emperors that morning, and they had not left the New World.
But Kong refused to relax.
It could be disguises. Devil Fruit trickery. Illusions wearing famous faces.
Or it could be the opposite, the "Four Emperors" in Sabaody were fakes, while the real ones stayed behind.
Either way, if there was even a chance to capture Brook's descendants, Kong would not gamble with half measures.
He deployed full force.
And in his heart, he prayed the "Four Hell Kings" in Sabaody were fake.
Because if they were not, Marineford was about to bleed.
…
Sabaody Archipelago.
Groves 60 to 69 had become ruins.
Marine bases and government agencies were smashed. Smoke climbed into the sky. The chaos spilled outward into neighboring groves as civilians fled, slave traders cursed, and Den Den Mushi screamed themselves hoarse.
Rear Admiral Sakazuki was being driven back, crushed under the combined pressure of Hades and Osiris.
He had been in the Navy too short a time. He had not reached his peak, and he had no Devil Fruit yet.
Against princes born with three types Haki potential and top tier Mythical Zoans, he simply could not match them.
"Hades! We're leaving!" Abel shouted. "We got the information!"
Ben Beckman and Abel had ripped intelligence from the Marine branch and government offices. They had what they came for.
Staying any longer was suicide.
"Wait," Osiris snapped. "He's almost done!"
"We do not fight!" Beckman roared. "We cannot stay here longer than an hour, or Marineford's main force arrives!"
Osiris clicked his tongue, fury flashing in his eyes.
"Then we finish him together!"
Abel surged in, black wings burning as he joined the princes.
Even Kuzan, usually lazy, moved without warning. A beam of ice snapped out and locked Sakazuki for a heartbeat, freezing his motion.
That single heartbeat was enough.
The second generation of Hell pivoted at once and piled in, no more patience, no more pride, only speed.
They beat Sakazuki like a stubborn nail refusing to go into the wood.
Even with his monster physique, even with his terrifying endurance, Sakazuki could not withstand that many attacks.
He was blasted backwards, blood spraying from his mouth, body skipping across broken ground.
Hades moved in to finish it.
Then a massive fist of mud and stone rose up like a wall and blocked his path.
"So many of you ganging up on one man," a young voice said, sharp with contempt. "That's not strength."
Douglas Bullet stepped into the fight, eyes shining with excitement.
These people were only a few years older than him, yet their fighting power was absurd. He had not even entered the New World yet, and he was already staring at talents that made his old battlefield look like a child's playground.
So the world really was bigger than his country.
So there really were people stronger than him.
He felt thrilled, and humiliated, and alive.
"Are you a Marine?" Hades asked, gaze cold.
Bullet shook his head.
"No. I'm a pirate too." His tone turned icy. "I just can't stand watching strong people like you beat one man together. Do you feel no shame?"
Kanna stared at the blond boy like she was looking at a stray idiot who had wandered onto the wrong battlefield.
"Hah." Her eyes narrowed. "A kid talking about shame right now?"
Then she smiled, and it was the kind of smile that made Marines pray for a quick death.
"Haha. Fine."
"Beat him too."
<><><><><>
[Check Out My Patreon For +40 Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[Join Our Discord Community For Updates & Events]
[https://discord.gg/MntqcdpRZ9]